big green academia

About Me

I just moved from the East Village to Hanover, NH. They're very different, but I hope to enjoy each for what it is. I'm studying for my PhD in computer science at Dartmouth. I hope to enjoy that for what it is too.

Archives

Monday, January 23, 2006

weekday snow

The weekend saw my first visitor to Hanover. I expect the visiting situation in Hanover to be opposite to what it was in the Peace Corps. Then, I lived in a truck stop town. You could (comparatively) get everything in my village. Plus, there were tons of volunteers who had to go through my village to get from the capital city to/from their villages. Hanover is "off the beaten path" You really need to make an effort to get here, and here has to be the final destination.

I expect my true popularity lies somewhere between the Yako and Hanover situations. Nevertheless, I'll be happy whenever visitors come, and Dennis came up from Boston. I showed him around, but he was hungry, and there were communication issues so he got here a little late. He didn't see much of the Hanover nightlife and left the next afternoon, missing Scout's party.

Between Dennis, Scout's party, and finishing the keg from Scout's party, I drank 3 nights in a row for the first time at Dartmouth. I don't plan on repeating the streak. Drinking is nice and all, but it gets in the way of graduate school.

I find myself somewhat behind today, but made good progress, so hopefully, wednesday will be clear.

After a week of snow melting, snow fell again, in large snowflakes all day long. Snow brings coldness with it, but beauty too, and I'll take the good with the bad.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

The sun shines brightly on Hanover today. Really. I woke up to one of those super bright sun shiny days where time seems to stop and you just have to spend the afternoon doing nothing but sipping coffee and enjoying yourself. So I did.

Yesterday Scout had her birthday party which was fun as you'd expect. I talked with my office-mate for more than I ever talk to her at school, since she's never there. We cross paths exactly as I expect most grad students cross paths -- rarely and happily. Its good to see her, but otherwise we both enjoy doing our own things.

After a serious series of miscommunication between the two of us, Dennis "look at" Haraszko rented a car and drove up from Harvard to become Official Visitor #1. We scrambled for late night food, which is no mean feat in Hanover. We could find only food but no drinks or vice versa. Food won out, and drinks followed. Its good to have visitors. There wasn't much action in Hanover last Friday, and I hope that didn't convince him to make the visit a one time occurance.

I could/should be doing more work right now, but really. Its too good of an afternoon to do anything but relax.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

I just finished OS homework #1. I spent soooooo much time on it that Anne and Scout were both worried about me burning out already. OS is outsize my area of expertise, so the class is going to be challenging.

Maybe I could've asked for help. Yes, it took yours truly more time than probably most of the class. And maybe I'll burn out on OS.

The point isn't that I didn't take help. Its that I had friends that were good enough to notice the stress and be concerned.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

be careful what you wish for

Yesterday started with a hard rain. The hockey game was good, but the women of Dartmouth only ended up tying UConn 1-1. They've been to the Frozen Four for the past three years, so this year's 3-5-2 start is disappointing. Still, when you send five players to the Olympics, your collegiate hockey team will suffer.

The rain pretty much stopped by the time we exited, to be replaced by an eerie mist. It was like Hanover was a painting, and someone had spilled a bucket of grey over it. (no one said I had good metaphors). I like the rain though, so it was nice to take in. I went to the Co-op for some food and saw sandra. We walked home together and talked about the weather and about art. Not to bad for a Saturday afternoon.

Saturday night the kids came over after studying, and we watched arrested development on dvds. When you don't have enough time to drink or options for carousing, this passes as an ok saturday night. I've said it before, but its good to be really tight with some new friends.

The rain turned to snow and a howling wind by the time I got to bed. I woke up to a freshly whitened ground and a bitter cold. The January Thaw seems over. This is the coldness I've heard about.

After not hearing from my office-mate, I moved some furniture around. She's gathered 5 years of PhD student stuff in the office, and I imagine she's going to be none to happy that its all back on her half of the office, but whatever. Hopefully this will not become some petty battle where we never see eachother, but still do little things to annoy. I really like her actually, except for the personal space stuff.

On the Haviland scale, I remain at 2 out of 3, which is really the best you can hope for. until you have all three.

Listening: I sit at my tableand wage war on myselfIt seems like its all,its all for nothing.

Friday, January 13, 2006

What a grey, dreary, craptacular morning.

I woke up to grey skies and the January thaw.Scout says it happens every year, just in time for the bees to survive -- otherwise, its too cold for them to awaken from hibernation enough to clear out the hive, and they'd suffocate in the long winter. Whatever the reason, its destroying any romantic notion I had of New England winters and snow piled on the ground until March. The snow is melting, and we're left with only the dirty grey sludge that makes everyone in New York hate winter so.

The grind of school started this week, and I woke up to nothing much to look forward to this weekend, which makes me cranky Or maybe, I'm just plain cranky for no particular reason. Things will change, and I'll get through this mood. It surprised me and came all of a sudden.

My keyboard is choosing to only accept 70% of the keys I type. You'd think that would make me type 30% slower, but it's more like 80%. Time to get a new keyboard.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

sundays

I'm in the Security Lab studying on a Sunday afternoon. It seems ok. The real pressure hasn't started yet, but every time I feel like the pressure is off, I stress a week later because I don't end up working hard enough. The beginning of this term is all about getting myself into productive academic shape.

2 of my good friends started dating after the Bling Kong show last month. Its been awkward because I knew but they didn't say anything and didn't seem to want anyone to know. Now that its out in the open, well, hopefully things will change. The awkwardness I mean. Hopefully other things won't change. They always do though, to some degree, when your friends start dating.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Sharon

Ariel Sharon suffered another stroke today. As opposed to last month's minor stroke, this one is serious. Sharon is fighting for his life as we speak.

This is just really, really bad. After the Gaza pullout, and his pullout of Likud, it looked like a strong centrist party would win the upcoming election and continue making (possibly unilateral) steps toward peace. Now, everything is in doubt. Who will step in and lead Kadima? Will Netenyahu lead Likud back to victory? If Sharon dies, everything will be so unstable. I doubt any big moves towards a lasting peace can be made in this case.

I really, really wish it wasn't true, but Israel unfortunately has no partner for peace. The recent violence at the Egyptian border illustrates this. I hope Abbas wins enough support to control the violence, and I hope Israel is (more) tolerant of missteps, but the Palestinian people themselves must promote peace, law, and order if they ever want to become a true nation.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

New Year's and resolutions

New Year's was ok. All in all, I spent most of my break reunioning with New York, Renfaire, and Peace Corps types. It was all good, really good, but I find myself stressed a little and tired a little and ready to start the term again today.

The professor I work for this year scheduled our first meeting for 10AM the day before classes start. Tornados in Chicago delayed my second flight and made me miss the last bus to Hanover yesterday, so I arrived just in time to be 20 minutes late. The professor was not pleased. I hate making a bad first impression, but he could've scheduled our first meeting when school actually started.

Onto the resolutions. This isn't the first year I've made them, but its close. I feel pretty comfortable with mine this year. The key is that I know I'm not going to make all of them completely, but this year, I'm just not going to worry about it.

1) run 10 miles a week2) 20 situps every morning3) get up early and get to bed early4) stay in touch better5) cook more/eat better

running and staying in shape is the priority. I didn't run 10 miles a week every week last term, but by the end, 3.5 miles wasn't hard, so 3x a week is all I need. If I miss a week though, its no big deal. These resolutions are for me.